Archive for July, 2012

I am proud and excited to announce that Brian Stefan, The Co-Host of ESPN Radio’s “The Myrtle Beach Golf Guys”, will be contributing to SportsMongerOntheGreen.com a couple times a month. Brian’s Background is in Golf industry and he has been a resident of the Myrtle Beach Area for many years now. He has copious amounts of Industry Knowledge, not to mention the Ability to play golf at a high level. These Traits make him a double threat as our newest Blog Contributor.

He will be providing analysis about some of Golf’s “Strangest” New Products. If you get a chance, Check out his show from 8-10 am Sunday Mornings on ESPN Radio 100.3 ! It’s a great show, and both He and Aaron Marks have tremendous Chemistry. Welcome Aboard Brian!

Scott Piercy shot a 67 for the second day in a row on Sunday to win the RBC Canadian Open by one stroke at -17 over Robert Garrigus and William McGirt. For Piercy, the win was his first of the season, and with that victory, he moved up the Fed Ex Cup points list to 13th.

Vijay Singh, whom I wrote about early last week, finished tied for 7th with Bo Van Pelt. Other notables from this past weeks Canadian Open, Ratief Goosen finished 10th, Stewart Appleby finished tied for 28th, Matt Kuchar finished 34th and John Daly was 48th. Coming off of his Open Win, Ernie Els failed to make the cut along with Jim Furyk.
The Players prepare this week for the World Golf Championship – Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC in Akron Oh.

PGA Tour Veteran Vijay Singh is currently fourth at the RBC Canadian Open. At age 49, he still competes at a high level week in and week out. For this once world number one, the reason’s are simple, he works hard at his craft.

Vijay has 2 top tens this season, and 6 finishes in the top 25. Although his numbers have certainly dropped off, he is still very relevant and knows how to win golf tournaments. Here are some career stats to consider.

He has 34 PGA Tour Victories, and 3 Major Championships. To go with those 34 victories, he has 26 second place finishes and 177 top tens in his career. He has also made over $66 million over his career. His most prolific season was 2004 where he won 9 tournaments and as mentioned was the Worlds number 1 player. That year, he earned over $10 million in prize money.

His work ethic is second to none, and it was, and is one of the main reasons he has been able to compete at such a high level for so long. Over the years, the one part of his game that you could say has held him back was his putter. In the tournaments that he won, his putter did not let him down. Throughout his career though, he was never known as a great putter. He was always terribly consistent with his long game, keeping the ball in play and hitting greens in regulation. It’s the putter that could have made him one of the great’s of all time. That said, most players that have every played on the tour, would trade their career’s in a second for his.

What also makes him so great, and the other reason he is able to compete is his demeanor. He never tries to be bigger than the game. I love that about a competitor in any sport. Especially golf. Golf is a game that dares you to be aggressive but only yields to players that are patient. Vijay is a terribly patient player that never panics, and knows how to hit shots when they need to be hit. He is not flamboyant at all. He never calls attention to himself in any other way, other than with his play. You never see him throw a club, nor do you catch him swearing. I have seen Vijay play in 5 tournaments in my life time in a live setting, not to mention on TV, and I can tell you, I have never seen or heard him swear. Maybe under his breath, but he censors himself well. If only other golfers could learn this trait…And that includes myself.

He is a tremendous competitor and I hope he continues to defy his age, and stays relevant. If you would like to follow me on Twitter you can @sportsmonger and on Sports Monger Radio.

It was 32 years ago today, July 25th 1980 when the Greatest Sports Movie of all time was released. So many great lines and characters came from that movie. At any point, on any golf course around the world, and at any time you can hear one of the lines being rattled off and laughter always follows. That’s what great movies do. They allow us to reflect and enjoy them for more than just that moment. They live on. Thanks for remembering with me!

So do we reward the great play of “The Big Easy”, or did the players in front of him choke? Good question I think. Ernie played great, making up 6 shots and playing his way back to the pack as the leaders Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker, and Tiger Woods all played themselves out of the Championship. Some have been quoted as saying that this was a Colossal collapse. I even heard a guy on the radio say that Scott Choked like a dog.

I think you have to give more credit to Ernie. He shot a 2 under par 68 to finish the tournament at -7, which is good enough to win most major tournaments. During every major, their is a group that surges ahead, then they fall back to the pack. The Difference with this tournament is the fact that the leaders fell back on Sunday. It happens.

In Adam Scott’s case, this could be the type of loss that really sets him back. It’s a tough way to lose, and no one would be surprised to see him struggle a bit for a while. At least on the PGA Tour. He may be able to pull off a victory on the European Tour, but I would not be surprised to see him scuffle a bit on the PGA Tour. As I said, losses like this can stay with a player, just ask one of my favorite Golfers of all time, Greg Norman.

Tiger was also in contention but he just can not find any magic on Sundays During a Major. Not sure why, but he seems to really struggle on Sundays during the biggest moments which is stunning when you consider his past. Sundays is all about the mental game. It’s tough to close out anything, let alone a tournament like this will all of the money and honor that goes with the victory. Snedeker on the other hand started to fade on Saturday, but completed his fade on Sunday. Not a real surprise, and no one can complain about a top 5 finish at The Open. Especially in the elements.

Ernie on the other hand is a player that has been close, but has not had the ability to close the deal for a long time. He is a player that has plenty of talent, length, and a solid short game. This very well could be his last Major Championship victory, and no one was more surprised to win then he was. It was great to see a Humble Guy like Ernie do it one more time. From my perspective, he won this tournament plain and simple. Way to Go Big Easy!

After taking some time off the site, which was really not my doing. I am back and apologize for the time loss. I was writing for several other sites, and my time became very limited. That all has changed as I now will be writing exclusively for this site and the PittsburghSportsmonger.com site’s primarily.

I will also be contributing to Footballticketsonline.com with my weekly Pittsburgh Steelers posts. So look for that going forward.

I would also like to announce that I am looking for staff writers for this blog. I am looking for anyone with a passion for GOLF, and loves to talk about it. I will be covering local Golf along with National events.

I am looking for writers to contribute a post or two a week. That’s it. Anywhere from 300-500 words about a topic that you feel passionate about. GOLF! I can be reached via Twitter @sportsmonger and through email at jhavelka@pittsburghsportsmonger.com.
I will also be looking into further developing my Sports Monger Radio, to a possible network, and would love to have anyone that likes to talk about Golf do a podcast on the network. If you are interested, let me know.

This has been an interesting adventure for me, so let me know if you would like to join me.